Summary

In this visually stunning book, award-winning journalists Betsy Mason and Greg Miller--authors of the National Geographic cartography blog "All Over the Map"--explore the intriguing stories behind maps from a wide variety of cultures, civilizations, and time periods. Based on interviews with scores of leading cartographers, curators, historians, and scholars, this is a remarkable selection of fascinating and unusual maps.

This diverse compendium includes ancient maps of dragon-filled seas, elaborate graphics picturing unseen concepts and forces from inside Earth to outer space, devious maps created by spies, and maps from pop culture such as the schematics to the Death Star and a map of Westeros from Game of Thrones . If your brain craves maps--and Mason and Miller would say it does, whether you know it or not--this eye-opening visual feast will inspire and delight.

Author Notes

BETSY MASON is a science journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Previously she was the online science editor for Wired , where she built an award-winning science section, the highest-traffic section on the site. Before becoming a journalist, Mason earned a master's degree in geology from Stanford University.

GREG MILLER is a science and tech journalist based in Portland, Oregon. Previously he was a senior writer at Wired and a staff writer at Science , where he won several honors. Miller earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Stanford University. He has appeared on public radio's Science Friday to discuss maps and has given talks on a wide variety of cartography-related topics.